LAT: Opportunity or Disaster for Battered Bush ("it gives us cover,")

[iconoclastic cat]

Holy fuck.

Opportunity or Disaster for Battered Bush

Stories about the shutdown of Gulf Coast refineries gave a new twist to the surge in gas prices.

All that is a relief for an administration that has watched public confidence in the White House erode.

"It gives us cover," said one House Republican strategist, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of the disaster. "Now everything is going to be about putting together a relief package quickly."

"I think it helps quite a bit," said professor Richard Sylves, a political scientist at the University of Delaware who has compiled data about U.S. presidents' responses to natural disasters and their consequences.
(much more)

[Synnical]

1. Interesting article - Diaster is "a relief"

But initially, at least, Katrina changed the topic of political conversation across the nation.

The drama unfolding in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, where families are struggling to survive after losing everything, displaced stories about the failure of Iraqi Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis to agree on a constitution.

Disaster reports also shifted the focus from antiwar protests inspired by the vigil outside Bush's Texas ranch by Cindy Sheehan, whose son died fighting in Iraq.

Stories about the shutdown of Gulf Coast refineries gave a new twist to the surge in gas prices.

All that is a relief for an administration that has watched public confidence in the White House erode.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. Yeah, they're going to think "relief"

when thousands and thousands of people show up in DC later this month, mad as hell. I don't think they're going to recover from this one any time soon.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. No surprises there.

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Save New Orleans, then save this country!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm